Gas Tax Repeal ‘Correction’ Mailer on Proposition 6 Causes ‘No’ Campaign to Howl

A highly effective mailer sent on Tuesday by the “Yes on Proposition 6” gas tax repeal campaign titled “Election Ballot Correction” caused an uproar by the “No” campaign.

Reform California leader Carl DeMaio was extremely upbeat Wednesday over the spectacular free media coverage stirred up by his organization’s first “Yes on Prop 6” campaign mailer, titled “Election Ballot **Correction**,” that started showing up on October 9 in the mailboxes of two million Californians who have signed up for vote by mail.

DeMaio told Breitbart News that despite grass-roots advocates submitting an initiative with over 1 million signatures to repeal the gas tax, repeal the vehicle fee increase, and require a statewide vote of the people to raise the gas taxes in the future, the California Attorney General had assigned Proposition 6 a misleading official title: “Voter Approval for Future Gas and Vehicle Taxes and 2017 Tax Repeal Initiative (2018).”

The “Yes on Prop 6” campaign believes that the California ballot summary mischaracterizes the initiative as threatening to slash 6,500 highway and bridge repair projects. As a result, the measure is opposed by every major newspaper in California, including: the Los Angeles Times; Monterey Herald; San Francisco Chronicle; Santa Cruz Sentinel; the Mercury News; the Press Democrat; the Sacramento Bee; and the San Diego Union-Tribune.

According to ABC News’ Sacramento affiliate, the “No on Prop 6” campaign described the mailer as misleading, accusing it of  “masquerading as an official correction to the sample ballots.” The same type of complaint was echoed by almost every television and newspaper outlet across the state, despite the mailer including required disclosures that it is not an official state document and that Reform California paid for it.

DeMaio told Breitbart that the complaints by the “No on Prop 6” campaign were arrogant and humorous: “This is like a bookie complaining that Vegas has gambling.” He emphasized the success of the mailer informing the public that a “Yes” vote for Proposition 6 was really a vote to repeal the gas tax hike — a message, he said, that is being hugely reinforced by the “No” campaign’s complaints.

President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Jon Coupal told Breitbart on October 1 that the “Yes on Prop 6” campaign was “cautiously optimistic” that the voter gas tax repeal would pass on November 6, in spite of a $30-million-to-$4-million fundraising disadvantage. Coupal said the “Yes on Prop 6” campaign’s reliance on motivated small donors was an advantage over “No” being funded by special interest money that included eight checks for over $1 million and $4.5 million from out-of-state interests.

DeMaio emphasized that the ‘Yes’ campaign did not waste precious cash responding to the “No” campaign’s $10 million summer media spend. But with voting under way, he promises that the gas tax repeal campaign will continue to argue that a “Yes” vote will save the average California family about $779 per year.

Republican candidate for governor John Cox supports Proposition 6; Democrat candidate Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom does not.